In a slightly autumnal chill at the end, Orla Prendergast pulled off an epic chase to beat Sri Lanka Women by three wickets in the first One-Day International (ODI) of the three-match series. The day began with Alice Tector being awarded her first cap in a moving on-field ceremony, with family in attendance and speeches.

Not long after, Prendergast had the ball in his hands as Ireland won the toss and chose to bowl first. It proved to be a smart move by stand-in captain Gaby Lewis as Prendergast took out Sri Lanka’s star batsman and captain Chamari Athapaththu.

Alana Dalzell also saw the end of Harshitha Samarawickrama, but struggled more in the middle overs after that. Ireland’s bowlers continued to give their all, but were able to make one final push, with Prendergast taking her career-best 3/25. But that was not to be her last trick of the day.

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Ireland started cautiously in pursuit of 261. However, the crucial task was to maintain the required run rate. Orla Prendergast came back into the game. She worked hard with Amy Hunter, Rebecca Stokell and Arlene Kelly to form important partnerships and get back into the chase.

Meanwhile, Prendergast kept shifting gears – first reaching a remarkable 100km/h mark and then looking at the remaining runs. As she neared the finish, she found new momentum when she “saw the finish line in sight”.

The two teams will now move on to the second match of the three-match ODI series on August 18 (Sunday).

Short reviews:

Sri Lanka – Women 260/8 in 50 overs (Vishmi Gunaratne 101, Hasini Perera 46; Orla Prendergast 3/25) lost against Sri Lanka – Women 261/7 in 49.2 overs (Orla Prendergast 122*, Amy Hunter 42; Kavisha Dilhari 4/54) with 3 wickets

Player of the game: Orla Prendergast

(Entries from Cricket Ireland press release)

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